Allowing the petition the Court held that the Assessing Officer should have conducted an enquiry with respect to the information in respect of the transactions in question in accordance with section 148A(a) and scrutinised the submissions of the assessee before passing an order under section 148A(d). Since the order under section 148A(d) had been passed on March 31, 2022, i. e., after receipt of the detailed reply dated March 24, 2022 by the assessee, the Assessing Officer should have considered the assessee’s reply as it was available on record, not considering the reply of the assessee dated March 31, 2022 in response to notice under section 148A(b) of the Act before making an order under section 148A(d) of the Act was in violation of the mandate of section 148A(c). Consequently, the order passed under section 148A(d) and the notice issued under section 148 were quashed. The matter was remanded back to the Assessing Officer to pass a fresh reasoned order under section 148A(d) in accordance with law after considering the assessee’s detailed reply dated March 24, 2022. Court observed that Section 148A(c) of the Income-tax Act, 1961 casts a duty on the Assessing Officer, by using the expression “shall”, to consider the reply of the assessee in response to the show-cause notice under section 148A(b) before making an order under section 148A(d).